WATCH: Pierre Poilievre's response to President Trump's tariffs
The Conservative leader re-affirmed his commitment to fighting back against U.S. tariffs and putting 'Canada First' in a message to President Trump.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre pledged to stand with the hardworking Canadians impacted by President Trump's new tariffs and fight back as required.
"At 12:01am, President Trump stabbed America's best friend in the back," said Poilievre. "My message to the president is this: Canada will fight back. We will defend our people, and our economy, and we will put Canada first," he added.
The Conservative leader also cautioned the Liberals against using funds collected from retaliatory tariffs to go on another massive spending spree and create higher inflation.
Poilievre cautions the Liberals against using funds collected from retaliatory tariffs for new government spending programs.
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) March 4, 2025
He says the Liberals must not use "this crisis to once again launch a debt-fuelled, money printing spending spree" that will drive up inflation. pic.twitter.com/s7iJET1cgq
While Poilievre acknowledged that Canada's economy will suffer as a result of the steep 25% tariffs, he warned President Trump that America's economy will suffer as well.
"There's no doubt that our economy will suffer. But so will yours, President Trump. In fact, you're already paying the price, with trillions of dollars erased in stock market value over the last month of these threats," he said.
"Already Americans are paying higher gas prices, as at midnight, a new American gas tax kicked in on U.S. working-class taxpayers and motorists. Your workers will soon start losing jobs, jobs they had upgrading Canadian raw materials, which by the way you were getting at an incredible and ridiculous bargain," Poilievre added.
Poilievre appears likely to face off against Liberal leadership frontrunner Mark Carney in Canada's next federal election this year.


COMMENTS
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Bernhard Jatzezck commented 2025-03-04 20:43:38 -0500By using the same rhetoric as the Liberals, but perhaps a few decibels louder, Poilievre has demonstrated that the Conservatives are nothing but the other half of the Uniparty. I was wondering when he would disappoint me and that happened earlier today.
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Bruce Atchison commented 2025-03-04 19:41:26 -0500Doesn’t Poilievre realize that he’s stepped into the Liberal’s trap? He should be ready to make a deal with Trump which would benefit both nations. Instead, Poilievre uses Liberal rhetoric to show he’s going to fight Trump.